Tammy Kay Renalds

Tammy Kay Zorio Renalds of Knoxville died at UT Medical Center on October 20, 2023. For over a year, Tammy had faced challenges related to a diagnosis of systemic sclerosis (scleroderma).

Preceded in death by her grandmother Sara Patty and her mother Pam Zorio, Tammy is survived by her husband Doug, children Bailey and Kirby, father Jim Zorio and brother Ben Zorio.

Friends and family keenly miss and will always remember Tammy as a fun and capable force for good in the world, a trusted companion, invariably kind and bright, by every definition of that word.

In the world of Academic Advising, Tammy helped countless students and truly enjoyed her colleagues, previously at Carson-Newman, and for the last decade at the University of Tennessee's College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences where she was recently promoted to Associate Director. She loved the UT advising community where students and colleagues could count on her for dedicated work, for making the complicated and complex accessible, and for doing it all with her own kindness and humor.

Tammy's commitment to all forms of inclusion and diversity was clear and unmistakable. She served on the Chancellor's Commission for LGBT+ Communities. In Spring 2021, she delivered the Lavender Graduation keynote address. Her heart was always with the marginalized, with those who might be misunderstood, with those less fortunate or without advantage, with "the least of these."

A Celebration of Life event, open to all who knew and loved Tammy, is scheduled for Sunday, November 12 from 2:00-4:00 at the Friendship Pavilion in UT Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family asks instead for donations to either UT's Pride Center or the McClung Museum, Tammy's favorite place on campus.

Expressions of care and remembrance can be posted at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/knoxville-tn/tammy-renalds-11509396.